In late 2022, the former Tonight Show host experienced two separate incidents.
Jay Leno has had a difficult few months because he experienced not one but two terrifying accidents that left him with several injuries throughout his body.
The 73-year-old celebrity, working on a vintage car when the horrifying car fire broke out on November 12 last year, suffered serious second-and third-degree burns and spent nine days at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital.
A little more than a month later, on January 27, a motorbike accident caused him to break his collarbone and two ribs.
Despite the back-to-back mishaps, the comic, who presently hosts both Jay Leno’s Garage and the NBC game show. You Bet Your Life isn’t planning on stopping anytime soon.
In an interview with Page Six at the Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge premiere, Leno was candid about his retirement plans (spoiler alert: he doesn’t have any) and what it would take to withdraw from the spotlight.
The seasoned late-night host insisted that he has no intention of retiring “until I have a stroke,” adding, “Then you slow down.”
He adamantly stated: “That’s when you retire when you have your stroke.” He insisted he won’t leave his career until his health truly requires it.
Leno recovered from both of his recent incidents with the same positive outlook. Following his nine-day hospital stay, during which he underwent various grafting surgeries, he promptly got back behind the wheel and even made it to the location of his accident.
Less than a week later, he performed once more in front of a packed house at the Comedy Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California, to a standing ovation.
The former host of the late-night talk show previously talked about his car fire disaster in an interview with People a month after the incident, saying: “When you work with cars, you have a lot of accidents,” but adding: “But this is bigger than most.”
He admitted: “I knew how close I was to the pilot light, and I thought, ‘Uh oh.’” He described getting a “full face of gasoline” when repairing a clogged fuel line in the undercarriage of a 1907 White Steam Car.
He remarked, “Maybe like the most intense sunburn you’ve ever had, that’d be fair to say,” that it “felt exactly like my face was on fire.”
He underwent two skin grafting surgeries while in the hospital to help regenerate healthier new skin and sessions in hyperbaric chambers to help oxygenate tissue. He refused to take painkillers during this time because they served as “a reminder that I’m an idiot,” so they served as a distraction.
His family and well-known acquaintances also hugely showed their support for him. During his stay at the burn center, his 43-year-old wife Mavis told him, “[John] Travolta gave me a big Italian basket, Tom Selleck sent flowers, and Russell Crowe called from Australia. I’ve been in this industry for a long time, so to experience that affection was very moving.
